| 𝐹𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝓃𝓉𝒽𝓈 𝐿𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇 |

| 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐸𝒶𝓈𝓉 |

For the past five months Adam and Mary had been doing their best to look after Tara, it was tough but manageable. Going into it they thought the hardest thing would of been keeping an eye out for the Order, but, the hardest part was raising a teenage girl. The two of them once had a kid back when they were in their prime but he was a boy and didn't make it very far in life. They thought looking over her was a second chance for them, they could succeed where they couldn't all those years ago. It took Tara a while but eventually she grew attached to the pair, they couldn't replace the role of parent for her but they were the best guardians she could of ever had asked for.

After she turned 15 things started to settle down, search parties for the missing wolf had stopped. The Order hadn't seen Tara since the day of the take over, after months of nothing they just assumed either she had died or had escaped to someplace far. Amelia's first few months of being Queen were the easiest, everybody loved the knew system and their new Queen. Violent outbreaks between species had stopped, wolves learned to expect their knew Vampire friends. Of course their was still crime happening in the underworld, violence between species that happened on a day to day basis. The Order distracted the public from any gang related crimes that happened, they were good at manipulating the people.

The past month was probably the best the three of them had ever had. Adam had gotten a job in the market place, both him and Mary had decent jobs and were able to keep a steady income. Tara stayed in the tiny house for most of the week but sometime would be allowed to go for walks outside. Adam or Mary would take her on a walk out of the Kingdom and through the fields just outside the Kingdoms walls. The six month long winter was slowly coming to an end. All snow fall had stopped but the cold still lingered, at nights it was unbearable. Within a few weeks it would be safe for them to travel. Through Adams work he met a man, he had a funny accent but looked to be a true blood vampire. Adam heard from a few of his co works that the strange man was from Karn, a place overseas with the reputation of being the most beautiful place in the world. The people of Staeso knew that people could leave Karn but no body could enter, it was forbidden. Despite that fact Adam pulled the man aside and pleaded with him, the man agreed to taking him to Karn and told him to meet him at the Dragon Fly inn at midnight. After Adam got home he told Mary of this chance of a new start for them, she liked the idea so Adam got his months worth of money and left for the inn.

Adam sat alone, all around him were angry drunks fighting over their drinks. He was covered head to toe in a dark cloak, he drew no attention to himself, he was perfectly hidden. Opposite him on the table was a man, grey skin, dark hair, a true blood vampire. The two sat in silence, Adam looked over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure no one else was watching. The vampire didn't care for his surroundings, since vampires had been in control for the past five months he was in no danger. Adam reached into his coat pocket and pulled out cash, lots of it. He slid it across the table and into the mans hands. The vampire stared off in another direction when he did this, trying his best to not look suspicious.
"So is it true... Can you take us to a safe haven." Adam pleaded with the man. He looked up at Adam and smirked.
"Yes I can do that, but fair warning the trip there wont be easy. We'll spend months on sea, have to ration food, fight the elements. Basically once we leave there is no going back." Adam nodded and sat up straight.
"That doesn't change anything, I still want to go."
"Ok sounds good to me, actually. The Islands of Karn have a very strict rule of who they bring in, I know they would accept you but who else do you intend to bring aboard." Adam froze up, he couldn't lie to the man but also couldn't tell him all the truth.
"Just myself, my wife and my daughter."
"Family man I see. Well im going to have to meet them." Adam started to sweat.
"Is something wrong with that?" The man looked suspicious.
"No No No, that would be fine."
"Then that settles it, I'll meet you at your house tomorrow."
"Um, don't you need to know my address?" The man smirked in a way which seemed planned.
"Don't worry I'll be able to find you." He stood from his chair and bowed.
"My name is Lucias by the way."
"Adam..." The two smiled a little before they went their sperate ways, Adam stayed seated in the inn while Lucias left it.

Tara walked down the stairs in a tired haze, all night she had heard Adam and Mary talk, she didn't understand what about but knew it must of been important. Once she reached the bottom she could feel that something wasn't right, her normal environment felt threatened. She snapped her head towards the living room and peered in. Adam and Mary sat next to each other on the couch while a strange man sat on the single couch. Out of instinct she growled at the man, threatened by his presence. Mary spoke out in her sweet voice.
"Darling relax he's a friend." These words stopped her from growling but didn't calm her. Slowly she walked towards the three, she took the time to study the mans appearance. He was a vampire, didn't seem like he wanted to hide that fact either. She glared over at her two guardians with a furious look in her eyes.
"Since when were you friends with a vampire." Her tone was arrogant. Mary looked at the man then back at Tara, she replied trying her best to please them both.
"Mr Lucias here isn't a normal Vampire hunny, he's from the Islands of Karn."
"What's that?" Tara spoke rudely, normally she was well mannered but she didn't feel right around the man. The silent Lucias spoke up, his quite voice and strange accented voice surprised her, it hadn't been what she was expecting.
"The Islands of Karn are a very remote community far across the ocean, many of us come to Staeso for a new life. Your parents have talked to me about wanting to go there." Tara's eyes lit up, not once did the pair mention anything about leaving Staeso. She had a glance over at Adam, he had a look of guilt all over his face. Tara nodded to what he said then sat down next to Adam. Lucias smiled and leant forward.
"So where we left off, I'd been happy to help the whole family. You just need to get a few things prepared first. Food, water, clothing. We will have that on the boat but if you want your own personal belongs you can bring them. Once we leave the mainland there is no going back." Tara was frustrated by this news, she knew that at least one of her brothers were alive, she didn't just want to betray them by leaving. Although she wanted to speak up something deep inside stopped her, it's like she knew deep down that leaving the mainland was the best thing for them to do. Lucias stares at Tara, he had a look of interest on his face, this made her feel even worse. Adam spoke up and broke the tension.
"That's fine with us." Adam and Mary both stood up while Tara remained seated, they shook the mans hand and he reminded them to meet him at the Ravenstone docks in a week. The docks themselves weren't far from the kingdom, around a thirty minute horse ride east. They agreed to these terms and watched the man as he left. He snuck in a few more glances at Tara before he finally left their home. Straight away Tara stood up to face them and started to rant.
"Right you both better tell me everything and I mean everything." Adam didn't hesitate to speak first.
"I've been in contact with that man for the past week, his story of him coming from Karn holds up. I thought that if we left for Karn then we could all have a fresh start."
"Why can't we just stay here, like we haven't even been close to getting caught." Taras voice was young and arrogant. Mary sighed and spoke up.
"We just want you to have a normal life, it's not right for a kid of your age to be locked in the house seven days a week. Leaving Staeso is the best option for us and you know it." Tara sat back down, she rubbed her tired eyes and replied.
"But I can't leave my brothers."
"I'm sure your brothers would want you to be safe and out of harms way, this is the best option Tara." Adam said. After a minute of Tara fighting over her emotions she finally realised that they were right, they were always right. Most of the time she thought she was right but deep down knew they knew what they were talking about. She looked over at the two of them and nodded her head.
"Fine... Lets go to Karn."

A week had passed, excitement between the three was at an all time high. Tara still felt a sense of dread when she thought about leaving, what about her brothers she thought. The words Adam said to her the week prier kept replaying in her mind and that was what drove her forward. They left the kingdoms gates at eleven. The beautiful fields were shrouded in darkness and a faint layer of mist. They rode on two horses, Mary rode along and Tara and Adam shared one. She sat on the back, arms wrapped around him tightly. The two adults held lanterns high, this provided them with enough light for the trip. If they could they would of left during the day but they needed to take the safer option.

As they vanished into the mist things became colder, the true effects of the winters aftermath really hit. Tara shivered for most of the trip, she tried to hold it back for Adams sake but didn't do a good job. Mary led the way, she had been to the Ravenstone docks quite often when she was younger. The Kingdom of Evanora was in a beautiful and resourceful spot in Staeso. On one side was the great mountain which had the castle, opposite that was the miles of fields. A single road made of the finest materials leaded all the way from the Kingdom to the South, the one Leon took. The way the three were going was to the left of the main path, the further they went down it the more low quality the road became, the once fine path became more forgotten and worn.

After a slow forty minute ride they reached their destination, the Ravenstone Docks. The docks itself was actually a small town. It had a few inns and shops here and their but its main appeal was the dock. For its small size the town was always blooming with life, but during this time of hour it was empty, not a soul in sight. Once they entered the town they slide off their horses and slowly walked from the town. A lot of the design was of mans design, lots of wood and stone being used throughout. The vibe the place gave off already made Tara feel uncomfortable, it wasn't fear but just a sense of uncertainty. Rested in the dock up ahead was a massive ship, one used for battles in the seas and pirates. Once Tara saw this her eyes lit up, all feelings of uneasiness gone. Never in her life had she seen a ship of that scale, well, she had never seen a ship at all, half her life was spent in a castle. Stood at the end of the pier was Lucias, he wore heavy fur coat and had his neck covered. Adam turned towards the two and motioned for them to stay where they were. Slowly he approached Lucias, the two didn't share words at first, they just admired the beauty of the boat.
"Good looking boat." Adam said, his voice warm and caring. Lucias didn't respond, although most of his face was covered Adam could still make out what his eyes looked like. They were red and filled with emotion. This made him confused at first, Lucias just stared at him without saying a word. It soon dawned on him what could of been happening. Franticly he turned back to Tara and Mary, sneaking up behind them were a dozen men, marked with the sign of the Order.
"MARY!" Adam screamed at the top of his lungs and pointed towards the armed men. Moments later Adam felt a sharp pain pierce through his stomach, he wasn't able to turn round but knew what happened, Lucias betrayed them. He fell forward and onto his face. Blood drained from his body fast but he still tried to stand. His frail body collapsed onto the ground again, this time he faced towards Tara and Mary. One of the solders had pulled Tara out of Mary's hands, they pulled her away and into the mist. Mary slapped one but was brought down but a punch to the gut. One of the guards dragged her by her hair towards Adam, his armor was more polished and expensive, he could tell that that man was in charge. The man threw Mary onto the ground beside Adam and kicked her a few times in the back. The two struggling elders held each others hands and sobbed, they knew their time was almost up. The man who just kicked Mary spoke.
"Good work Lucias, I had my doubts but it turns out I was wrong." He grinned. Lucias didn't responded, he stared motionlessly at the two while they sobbed. The man studied the couple for a few seconds then directed his attention to Adam.
"You first." Mary started screaming when she heard this, she pleaded from them to spare his life and take hers but the man didn't respond. Out of pure anger she turned her attention back to Lucias, cussing him out, calling him a veil cunt and to burn in hell. The man, who was known to his men as Russel, grabbed Adam off the ground by his hair and brought him to his knees. Adam had to words to say, he had already gone into shock from the sword that entered his gut. He looked out towards the misty water and cried, he mind raced with thoughts but he could focus on none. In one quick motion Russel pulled a knife from his back pocket and slit Adams throat. The blood poured into the water below, seconds later he died. Russel waited a few seconds before throwing Adam's body over the side, once it hit the water it didn't float back up, it sunk down to the bottom, gone forever. Mary screamed, a scream that could be heard throughout the town, but no one would dare to intervene. Soon after Adam was taken care of they moved onto Mary. Her death was the same as her husbands, a clean slice to her neck then her body thrown over board. Russel whipped the knife on his pants then placed it back in his pocket.
"Now that we got that out of the way lets talk about your payment." Russel said with joy in his voice.
"The deal was you arrange a meeting with the Queen for me. "
"And that deal will be kept by friend, but you know this is a massive win for us, is there anything else you want." Lucias shook his head, he seemed satisfied with the reward he was already getting.
"Alright your loss then." Russel stood uncomfortable close to him. Russel stared down into the water so Lucias did the same.
"Don't feel to bad about them, we were close to finding them anyway, you just sped the process."
"Mhm. You know, I wasn't going to tell you guys about Tara, at first I didn't even realize it was her anyway, but after a few days of thinking over it I knew it had to be, the story just added up. Even after I knew I thought I was going to keep my promise to them, but something deep down told me this was the right thing to do."
"Do you still believe that?" This question brought Lucias to a halt, he honestly didn't know. Once Russel realized this he changed the topic.
"I was happy we could do the little set up here though, might of got messy if we did it back in Evanora, you know. Lucias nodded and continued to stare into the water.
"Well if you would like to come with us back to the castle I'm sure we could find a room for you tonight, then you could speak to the Queen tomorrow."
"No, its fine. I'll be at the castle doors at sunrise." Lucias exclaimed. Russel nodded and the two shook hands. Soon after Russel and all of his men left the small town, Lucias had no clue what they did to Tara, he didn't want to know. Once he knew he was completely alone he sat down at the end of the pier and stared out into the misty water, he knew what he did was wrong, he didn't know why he did it, all he knew was that he wanted to take it all back.